Sputnik 9 marked a significant milestone in the Soviet Union's space program, as it was designed to prepare for human spaceflight. Launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the spacecraft carried along a female dog named Chernushka, who had previously been trained and flown on a prior mission. The inclusion of a human dummy, named Ivan Ivanovich, was crucial for assessing how a human in space might respond to the conditions of launch, orbit, and re-entry. The spacecraft was equipped with life-support systems and monitored various parameters that would inform future manned missions.

The mission lasted about 25 hours, during which Sputnik 9 completed several orbits of the Earth. As it orbited, data was transmitted back to control centers, monitoring Chernushka's condition and the performance of the spacecraft systems. Upon re-entry, both the dog and the dummy were recovered successfully, affirming the viability of sending humans to space. The event was celebrated in the Soviet Union as a further demonstration of its technological prowess during the early years of the space race.

This successful launch and the positive results paved the way for subsequent missions, including the famed Vostok 1 mission, which would see a human, Yuri Gagarin, become the first person in space less than a month later. The data gathered during the Sputnik 9 mission provided invaluable insights into the physiological challenges faced by astronauts, thus contributing to the ongoing development of reliable life-support systems for future human spaceflight.